Ingredients:

2 cans of garbanzo beans (or 1 cup of raw garbanzo beans soaked in water & baking soda the night before. It takes more cooking time but I recommend it)

3 TBS of Tahini (preferably bought from an international deli. I recommend Cortas, Al-Wadi, Mid-East brands. The ones from whole foods are sometimes tricky also other tahini from safeway that I didn’t like)

Lemon Juice of 1 1/2 lemons and separately 1/2 a lemon

1~2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed (Omit if you don’t like garlic)

2 pinches of Cumin Powder

Half-teaspoon of Salt (more salt for none canned garbanzo)

1/4 teaspoon of all spices mix. (brown color mix)

A pinch of paprika (or more. Depends on how spicy you want it. Omit if you or your guests don’t like spicy food)

Recipe Directions:

Put the Hummus beans (Garbanzo beans) in boiling water until they become soft and you’re able to crush them easily with two finger (don’t burn your fingers), then turn off the heat and leave them sitting there for a bit, (don’t strain them from the water). Ultimately, you should wait until the beans are warm leaning towards hot before mashing them.

In a food processor:

Mince the garlic with salt first (Pulse it 3 to 4 times)

Strain out garbanzo beans (don’t throw away the water, you might need it later) and process them together for about 10-15 seconds (or until the mixture stops moving).

Add tahini, lemon juice and spices.

Rerun the food processor and let them get all mixed up (~15 seconds)

Use a spatula to mix the pieces that are stuck high on the sides

Rerun for 5~10 seconds, et voila.

If you’re lucky, they’re ready, and you’re done. 99.99% of the time, I’m not lucky and it takes some practice beyond this point the get them to be perfect, nevertheless here’s some pointers to master it:

Hummus Texture:

Perfect hummus is when it’s super smooth like cream (in Lebanon, some restaurants peel off the garbanzo skin to make it even smoother). I don’t remove the skin because you’d lose a lot of the nutrients.

Alright, let me highlight some of the issues that I’ve faced throughout my hummus making journey and my workarounds, I’d love to hear an alternative solution in the comments.

Problem: Texture is not smooth, hummus feels thick. You don’t want your hummus to be dry, because it will get worse by the time you serve it.

Fix: Taste it. If it can handle more lemon, then add a bit of lemon and mix again then re-evaluate.

Problem: It still looks dry and I’ve added enough lemon.

Fix: Use some of the water that was used to cook the beans.

Problem: They feel too soft, I can even see lots of liquid on the surface.

Fix: A thin layer of water/lemon juice is fine. Hummus will tend to dry up a bit. If it’s too soft then add some tahini (start with 1 TBS), mix, then re-evaluate

Taste:

Problem: It tastes too lemony

Fix: Water it down with some the water that was boiled in. Start with small amounts, mix then re-evaluate.

Problem: The tahini taste is too dominant.

Fix: Add more lemon/water. Start with lemon juice.

Problem: Tahini, Lemon, spices all taste perfect but I feel like something is missing or it’s a bit blend.